Blog: New Help on Testing for Common Cause of Software Bugs

New Help on Testing for Common Cause of Software Bugs
Government Computer News (11/01/10) William Jackson

As part of the Automated Combinatorial Testing for Software (ACTS) program, the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has developed algorithms for automated testing of the multiple variables in software that can cause security faults. Research has shown that at least 89 percent of security faults are caused by combinations of no more than four variables, and nearly all are caused by no more than six variables, according to NIST. "This finding has important implications for testing because it suggests that testing combinations of parameters can provide highly effective fault detection," NIST says. The ACTS program is a collaborative effort by NIST, the U.S. Air Force, the University of Texas at Arlington, George Mason University, Utah State University, the University of Maryland, and North Carolina State University to produce methods and tools to generate tests for any number of variable combinations.

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